Live Picks: 1/18
Petal
BY JORDAN MAINZER
A couple Tomorrow Never Knows gems and an annual treasure.
Petal & Bernice, Schubas
Petal’s Magic Gone was one of our favorite albums of last year; contributor Lauren Lederman wrote that it “documents a moment for Kiley Lotz…where coming to terms with her own queerness and mental health comes to a head.” Expect to hear lots of the latest record tonight at Schubas.
Toronto whimsical indie pop band Bernice will play songs from last year’s inventive Puff: In the Air Without a Shape. The band, led by singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Robin Dann, takes equal influence from soundscapes and R&B and quiet storm to make for a wonderfully percussive and soulful take on a genre that too often suffers from preciousness sans feeling.
Seattle grunge pop band Great Grandpa and Sir Babygirl (the queer pop project of Brooklyn-via-New Hampshire artist Kelsie Hogue) open.
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Lincoln Hall
When we interviewed Sarah Shook last year after seeing her perform a stripped down acoustic set at Bloodshot Records, she said that her band “amplifies all the emotions and really draws out the spirit of the thing.” So it sounds like seeing her with the proper Disarmers is the way to go. Shook also mentioned to us that she has plenty of new songs (she played a new one at Bloodshot), though it remains to be seen whether she’ll perform any of them in her headlining slot tonight. The band is likely to play one or both of the two new songs they released towards the end of last year, the quintessentially high and lonesome “The Way She Looked At You” and the honky tonk “Devil May Care”.
Mount Moriah frontwoman H.C. McEntire and Half Gringa, the moniker of songwriter Izzy Olive, open.
Tedeschi Trucks Band, Chicago Theatre
Tedeschi Trucks Band return for their annual residency at Chicago Theatre starting tonight (they’re also playing tomorrow and next Friday and Saturday nights). They’re releasing a new record, Signs, next month. Instrumentally, the record is definitely a band showcase, as on the horn-laden funk of “Walk Through This Life”, blues guitar jam “Still Your Mind”, and uptempo country bop “Hard Case”. But the songwriting and lyricism and soul of the record is really thanks to Susan Tedeschi. She sings about overcoming on “I’m Gonna Be There?” and offers an inspiring ode to life on “Strengthen What Remains”. “Shame” is a gripping, gospel-influenced lament of our current state of political affairs. And “The Ending”, perhaps the record’s best song, was written in tribute to many of the band’s friends who passed away during the recording of Signs, including Butch Trucks, Gregg Allman, Leon Russell, and B.B. King. But it’s Colonel Bruce Hampton to whose final moments Tedeschi pays tribute, all over acoustic blues picking. It’s a moving end to an emotional album, of which the band should play at least a few songs tonight.